Chapter 5
The next day, Heero and Duo had called Wufei and Quarte to their school to discuss what Duo had seen. It was odd. Then Duo happened to mention that the robot was called Seiji. Trowa would have come, but he was undercover at the moment.
"How interesting." Quarte remarked. "We just met a Seiji yesterday. We found a poor boy being beaten in an alley and he asked us to call Date Seiji to come and take him home. He was tall with very blond hair and a cool personality, to put it politely."
Duo looked surprised. "It sounds like the same guy. Date Seiji. Was the guy you found named Mouri Shin? Thin with light brown hair?"
Wufei nodded. "Yes. I presume we are talking about the same people. I doubt very much that Shin is a robot, Duo. He had been beaten by very ordinary human teenagers, it is unlikely that he would have let that happen if he was a robot. There would be no point."
It was at that very moment that Wufei felt a hand on his shoulder just before two arms wrapped around his shoulders.
He was surprised, to say the least to find Shin hugging him from behind with a happy smile.
"You're them!" Shin cried. "You're the ones who saved me!" Shin actually kissed the back on Wufei's head, making Wufei gag and struggle futilely against Shin's amazon like glomp. He wasn't used to public affection to begin with, let alone a boy hugging him that he'd just met yesterday. "I'm so glad to see you again!"
Wufei, once he was able to loosen from Shin's grip, and the rest of the Gundam group stared at Shin. He was completely healed, not a mark on him. He'd been nearly dead yesterday and now it was as if nothing had happened.
Shin must be a machine, some kind of cyborg or android.
Shin looked at Quarte and fell to his knees before shifting his glomp to the blonde's waist. "And you, too! I was so worried that I wouldn't be able to find you again and I really wanted to thank you for helping me! You must come for dinner tonight. I'll cook for you. Chicken, steak, pizza, anything you want and I'll make it!" Shin cooed happily, rubbing his cheek on Quarte's chest.
Well, he certainly didn't act like any machine they'd encountered before.
Quarte nervously patted Shin's back as Shin still hadn't let go of him. "That's all right. We were happy to help." Quarte suddenly noticed that Shin wasn't alone. There were eight other boys and one brown haired girl standing behind him. The red haired boy didn't look happy.
"Who are your new friends, Shin?" Sh'ten, the red head, asked acidly.
Shin turned to his friends with his arms still locked onto Quarte. "Guys! Come meet my new friends!" He yelled happily, waving them over. The others came slowly over at his call. "Guys, this is Wufei and Quarte. They're the ones who saved me from the attackers."
Sh'ten didn't seem impressed with this, but Shin continued, jumping up and throwing his arms around Wufei again, much to Wufei's embarrassment. "This is Wufei, he was incredible! He came out of nowhere and was so magnificent! He jumped right in and defeated all five of them so easily." Shin sighed, giving Wufei big, anime sparkly eyes filled with adoration.
Sh'ten growled, baring his teeth at Wufei. He was not happy to hear Shin sing praises to anyone but him. Him alone. Just him. OK, maybe he was a little possessive.
"Shin," Touma said.
"Yes?" Shin didn't even look away from Wufei.
"Those are the ones who saw Seiji in his armor."
Shin's happy attitude suddenly disappeared. He let go of Wufei and backed away into the protection of his friends and looked doubtfully at the Gundam pilots. "You...you did?"
Duo nodded. "I sort of walked in and he was in bright green armor. Are you...machines?" It seemed like an odd thing to ask in the middle of a schoolyard.
Sh'ten put an arm around Shin's shoulders. "We are all grateful that you saved Shin's life," He told Wufei. "But I will ask you not to put your hands on him again!" Sh'ten's mouth twisted in an unattractive snarl. "Shin is mine!"
Ryo looked around at the other kids starting to gather for the beginning of school. "Perhaps we should talk somewhere more private. We knew we would have to talk to you after yesterday." Ryo held out something to Duo. It was his forgotten notebook.
Duo took it guiltily. If they were OZ machines, then they were the strangest he had ever seen. They really acted as if they had minds of their own instead of programming.
Everyone nodded, agreeing that this should be done away from prying eyes. The back of the school, in the athletic field would be best. Quiet and undisturbed.
"So, what's going on?" Wufei asked, folding his arms across his chest. "Duo is reliable when it comes to this sort of thing. He wouldn't lie and he rarely makes such mistakes. You," he looked at the emotionless Seiji, "at least, are a machine. What about the rest of you?"
They all looked at each other uncertainly, except for Shin who had returned to gazing at Wufei and Quarte with near adoration, only Sh'ten's hold keeping him from running to them again. Shu also didn't look terribly worried. In fact, he was looking at Wufei strangely.
Ryo shook his head. "You've got us all wrong. I don't know why you keep going on about machines, but we're just people. We just came to school. We haven't hurt anyone and we don't intend to. We just want to be left alone, that's all."
"Hello." Everyone turned to see Mr. Gen standing with them.
Duo started sweating and wondering what they should say. They certainly didn't want a teacher to get involved in all this. "Well, you see...Uh..." Had to think of a lie to get the teacher away and out of this whole mess.
"Hi, Rajura." Ryo said with a slight wave.
"Morning." Rajura went to Naaza and kissed him passionately. "How's my favorite little love toy?" He gave Naaza's butt a tight squeeze, making the green haired boy jump slightly with a smile on his face.
"Not here, Rajura. There are people watching."
"You're to shy."
Quarte went quite pale and Wufei's eyes almost popped out of his head. Duo thought it was just sick that a teacher would do something like that.
Naaza, after giving a kiss that would melt an ice burg, frowned at Rajura. "What do you mean 'favorite little love toy'? How many do you have?"
"They saw Seiji's armor." Touma told Rajura before the older man could answer.
Duo suddenly understood. "You know about them?" He asked Mr. Gen. "You know that they're machines?"
Rajura raised an eyebrow. "Machines? What does this boy speak of?"
"We're not sure." Sh'ten answered. "I think they're confusing us with the machines that mortals make these days. Perhaps if we let them understand they will leave us in peace."
"I doubt it. I have been hearing much of these boys and they are not the most trust worthy of humans." Mr. Gen's good eye stared at them. "I think it would be better to escape this whole facade and go back to our old lives."
"No!" Shu cried suddenly, much to everyone surprise. "I won't leave him." He looked directly at Wufei who suddenly looked like a deer caught in headlights. Duo giggled.
Nasty looked at Ryo. "I think I've just been dumped." It was the first time she's spoken since she'd arrived with the boys. It seemed like she was used to staying in the background.
Ryo answered, "You kept him a good month and three days. That beats Touma by two days and that's a new record. Now, you can go chat up that guy at the library you told me about."
"True."
"And what do we do when they bring their Gundam ships to our home and step on it?" Touma asked Shu sharply. "That won't make Nasty very happy."
Sh'ten let an evil grin spread across his face. "Let's kill them." His eyes lingered on Wufei and Quarte. "No more problems if they're all dead."
Duo started to worry when he saw some of them considering this.
"Not him," Mr. Gen pointed at Duo. "He's my new student and I won't have him killed before his training is finished. You can kill the others if you like."
"Don't hurt Wufei!" Shu smiled at the smaller man. "I won't let anyone hurt my Little Panda!"
Wufei spluttered, forgetting that the people in front of him were probably androids. "I am not your Little Panda!" He shook a fist in the air. "INJUSTICE!"
Shu blinked with surprise. "Justice?"
"It is my life's work to serve justice." Wufei declared proudly.
Touma started laughing. "You've just nailed your own coffin, pal."
"Can we get back to the subject, please?" Seiji asked softly. "We have to decide what to do about them."
"Nasty, are you involved in all this, too?" Duo asked, trying to derail that train of thought that suggested they all die. He was also trying not to laugh at Wufei's predicament of Shu smiling at him sweetly.
Ryo answered for her. "Sort of. She takes care of us and we live at her home. She isn't one of us, though. Nasty's just real nice and we like her." Ryo was quiet a moment. "I just don't know what to do." He admitted. "We've never had this problem before." He looked at them hopefully. "I don't suppose we can trust you to just forget what you saw about Seiji?" He was talking to Duo who was the only one to actually see Seiji as a machine.
Duo shook his head. "I never lie."
"I'm not asking you to lie, just not to tell anyone."
"Sorry."
Ryo frowned, looking at the ground as he thought, before looking up with hope. "What do you think I should do about this?" He asked the Duo.
Naaza snapped, "You don't ask the enemy for help, baka!"
"But he's my friend!" Ryo protested.
Anubis growled at Naaza. "Don't yell at Ryo."
"He's asking them what we should do! Let's just kill them, hide the bodies, and get back to class."
"I'm all for killing them." Sh'ten agreed helpfully until Shin frowned at him.
"Are you jealous?"
"Me? Of coarse not!" Sh'ten sniffed arrogantly, but didn't take his arms off Shin.
"Then you don't mind if I give my new friends another hug?"
"Don't you dare!"
Ryo opened his mouth, but Seiji spoke up. "What if we can convince you that we are not these OZ machines you seem to hate so much?"
"My objective is to destroy OZ." Heero said in his usual dry monotone. "Nothing else matters. If you are from OZ, I must destroy you."
"I need an answer. If we can convince you that we are not OZ, will you leave us in peace?"
Heero shrugged. "I have no interest if you are not from OZ."
Quarte spoke. "I won't hurt you, so long as you don't pose a threat to humans. If you're going to attack this world or the colonies, then we'll have to fight you."
Seiji nodded. "That is acceptable. Just don't give away our secret." He then frowned. "What do you mean, 'colonies'? What colonies?"
"The colonies in outer space." Quarte gave a puzzled frown. "Haven't you heard of the colonies before?"
"Where've you been living for the past several decades?" Wufei asked.
"We have been in the dark nether realms of the dynasty for the past several centuries." Anubis sneered at them before Sh'ten shot him a scowl.
"Yeah, and we've been a bit busy trying to kill them." Shu added.
"Is it true, Touma?" Sh'ten asked the blue haired boy. "Are they're really people in outer space?"
The Gundam team watched as Touma got a misty look in his eyes and it seemed as if he weren't seeing them any more. His head tilted up until he was looking at the clouds and swayed slightly. "Yes." His voice was soft and far away. "Yes, very many people in the void." A smile touched his face and Duo realized with a shock that Touma was glowing. "Singing...the stars are singing." His voice had dropped to a whisper and Duo knew the blue haired boy was no longer talking to them. His mind was elsewhere.
Duo jumped slightly. Touma was not only glowing a soft blue, but he was hovering several inches off the ground until Seiji grabbed the back of his shirt and pulled him back down to earth.
"How did you do that?" Quarte asked. "If you aren't a machine, how did you do that? You were flying! I saw it, you were really flying!"
Touma looked embarrassed. "I try not to do that in public, but it's hard when I look into the void. The stars are singing to me." His gaze started to drift up again, but Seiji shook his shoulder. "I have to stay focused or I try to get to the stars. I would stay up there forever, if I could. Perhaps the truth is best."
The eight boys and Mr. Gen spread out around the Gundam pilots and Nasty, surrounding them in a circle.
Duo-
We were suddenly at their house. I don't know how we got here, but they had suddenly surrounded us and then we were at Nasutei's home.
"This is the best place for privacy." Ryo told us. "We won't be interrupted. Are we agreed?" He looked at all his friends and, I saw something passed between them. I'm not sure what, but it was as if they were talking without talking. Ryo nodded and took a step away from us. "Don't be afraid." He told us. Ryo made a fist and shouted. "Armor of Wildfire Tao Jin!" There was a flash of light and I swear I saw flame engulf Ryo for just a moment and then he was there in red and white armor and holding two slim, but dangerous looking, swords. "I am Ryo of Wildfire. I bear the armor of wildfire and I am virtue."
"You are virtue?"
"It's my greatest trait. We all have one trait that defines us." Ryo nodded at the others. One at a time they transformed in front of us into the strange armor.
Seiji of Halo-courtesy
Shin of Torrent-faith
Shu of Hardrock-justice
Touma of Strata-wisdom
Sh'ten of Cruelty-loyalty
Anubis of Darkness-obedience
Naaza of Venom-piety
Rajura of Illusion-serenity
I stared at Mr. Gen. "You're a kid!" I exclaimed.
Mr. Gen smiled and touched his now young looking face. "Yes. I'm a kid. The face you saw as Mr. Gen was, of coarse, an illusion. It was helpful and I rather enjoyed being a teacher again."
Wufei was looking a little pale as he stared at Shu. "You...you are justice?"
Shu sighed and started walking toward Wufei. "Yeah. Just imagine, Little Panda, together, you and I fighting for justice, forever."
Wufei started to back away, moving behind Heero. Shu said something in Chinese that made Wufei blush before yelling at Shu in his native language. This continued for a few minutes until Ryo grabbed Shu's arm. "Why don't you give him a few minutes to get used to your profoundly unique love, Shu? Maybe he's not used to it."
Shu looked at Wufei appraisingly. "Yes, I think you might be right." Then he smiled at Wufei again. "Though how a cute devil like you can't be used to love, I have no idea." He winked at Wufei.
Wufei, again, blushed bright red.
Sh'ten said, loudly enough for everyone to hear. "Who would have thought of Shu as having a silver tongue?"
We just stared at each other for about five minutes and they patiently let us until Quarte said, "What are you?"
"We are the Samurai Troopers." Ryo said.
Sh'ten indicated the darker warriors. "We are the Ma-Sho. You've seen us transform, but we are still human. Our hearts beat and we bleed, we are human. We bear your world no ill will. Let us live in peace."
"We wear the armor to protect the Earth and guard it from harm." Touma added.
Heero spoke. "Will you fight against OZ or with it?" He did tend to get stuck on subjects and even if he didn't know what exactly these people could do, it was always helpful to have allies.
"We don't care about your little war one way or the other. It is only one more of the countless wars that had been fought and, like all others, it will be forgotten in short time." Anubis said. "Go fight it yourself. We will interfere only if the Earth is in danger."
"We can't allow OZ to rule us!" Wufei snapped. "You don't understand what Treize will do to us..."
Anubis looked at Ryo. "Treize? Isn't that the name of the guy who nosed in at the gym yesterday?"
Everyone went silent and the Gundam pilots tensed visibly. Ryo thought. "Yeah. Treize Kushranada, I think."
"What did Treize want with you?" Heero asked. They would have to know if these people would be new enemies.
"We were at the gym in the city when he just walked over. He wanted us to work for him." Ryo answered. "He offered very good pay, too. Still, I don't want to get involved with anything like that. I'm not good at obeying orders."
"What were you doing when Treize approached you at the gym?" Heero asked Ryo.
Anubis stepped casually behind Ryo with a hand on the hilt of his sword. Anubis began to stroke the hilt of his hand slowly with a suggestive leer on his face. "We were thrusting." He drew out the last word to make it sound obscene and licked his lips.
Everyone gaped.
Rajura leaned forward. "Don't tell me you..." His gaze drifted back and forth between Ryo and Anubis. "You didn't! Did you?"
Ryo nodded happily. "Yes, we were practicing sword technique. Anubis thought my thrusts needed work, but I think I was doing just fine."
Everyone face faulted.
"Why?" Ryo asked in his innocence. "What did you think we were doing?"
No one answered him, but Naaza screamed at Anubis, "You brat! Got us all excited and then to let us down like that, I could just kill you!"
"It's your own fault," Anubis told Naaza as he strolled away several yards. "You've got a filthy mind."
I tried to get back on track. "So, you're not planning to join OZ?"
Ryo shook his head. "We've all discussed it and, frankly, it's none of our business who rules this world."
"What?" I demanded. "How can you say such a thing? It is everyone's business, OZ is murdering people!"
Touma nodded. "Yes, that is pretty awful. On the other hand, you Gundams routinely kill OZ soldiers, don't you?"
"Well, yes."
"So, what makes you so much better than them?"
"His point," Anubis added, "Is that it doesn't concern us how this world is governed, so long as it is ruled by humans. We are more concerned with guarding this world from others."
"What others?" Quarte asked. "Are you talking about aliens?"
Naaza laughed. "If only it were so simple." Trowa could have sworn that he saw fangs when Naaza laughed. "We are not worried about aliens. We watch for evil." He told them ominously. "Spirits and those that serve the spirits."
It was decided, after a while, that the Gundams had no quarrel with the strange armored warriors and everyone agreed to leave each other alone. No fights and no problems, so long as neither group started anything.
Except of coarse that Shu was still declaring his eternal love for Wufei and Wufei was hiding from Shu. Apparently, Wufei would find candy and flowers on his doorstep every morning for a week with a card addressed to Little Panda. It made him so nervous, that he moved in with Quarte for a little while. How Shu had found out where Wufei lived was a mystery.
The next day, Heero and Duo had called Wufei and Quarte to their school to discuss what Duo had seen. It was odd. Then Duo happened to mention that the robot was called Seiji. Trowa would have come, but he was undercover at the moment.
"How interesting." Quarte remarked. "We just met a Seiji yesterday. We found a poor boy being beaten in an alley and he asked us to call Date Seiji to come and take him home. He was tall with very blond hair and a cool personality, to put it politely."
Duo looked surprised. "It sounds like the same guy. Date Seiji. Was the guy you found named Mouri Shin? Thin with light brown hair?"
Wufei nodded. "Yes. I presume we are talking about the same people. I doubt very much that Shin is a robot, Duo. He had been beaten by very ordinary human teenagers, it is unlikely that he would have let that happen if he was a robot. There would be no point."
It was at that very moment that Wufei felt a hand on his shoulder just before two arms wrapped around his shoulders.
He was surprised, to say the least to find Shin hugging him from behind with a happy smile.
"You're them!" Shin cried. "You're the ones who saved me!" Shin actually kissed the back on Wufei's head, making Wufei gag and struggle futilely against Shin's amazon like glomp. He wasn't used to public affection to begin with, let alone a boy hugging him that he'd just met yesterday. "I'm so glad to see you again!"
Wufei, once he was able to loosen from Shin's grip, and the rest of the Gundam group stared at Shin. He was completely healed, not a mark on him. He'd been nearly dead yesterday and now it was as if nothing had happened.
Shin must be a machine, some kind of cyborg or android.
Shin looked at Quarte and fell to his knees before shifting his glomp to the blonde's waist. "And you, too! I was so worried that I wouldn't be able to find you again and I really wanted to thank you for helping me! You must come for dinner tonight. I'll cook for you. Chicken, steak, pizza, anything you want and I'll make it!" Shin cooed happily, rubbing his cheek on Quarte's chest.
Well, he certainly didn't act like any machine they'd encountered before.
Quarte nervously patted Shin's back as Shin still hadn't let go of him. "That's all right. We were happy to help." Quarte suddenly noticed that Shin wasn't alone. There were eight other boys and one brown haired girl standing behind him. The red haired boy didn't look happy.
"Who are your new friends, Shin?" Sh'ten, the red head, asked acidly.
Shin turned to his friends with his arms still locked onto Quarte. "Guys! Come meet my new friends!" He yelled happily, waving them over. The others came slowly over at his call. "Guys, this is Wufei and Quarte. They're the ones who saved me from the attackers."
Sh'ten didn't seem impressed with this, but Shin continued, jumping up and throwing his arms around Wufei again, much to Wufei's embarrassment. "This is Wufei, he was incredible! He came out of nowhere and was so magnificent! He jumped right in and defeated all five of them so easily." Shin sighed, giving Wufei big, anime sparkly eyes filled with adoration.
Sh'ten growled, baring his teeth at Wufei. He was not happy to hear Shin sing praises to anyone but him. Him alone. Just him. OK, maybe he was a little possessive.
"Shin," Touma said.
"Yes?" Shin didn't even look away from Wufei.
"Those are the ones who saw Seiji in his armor."
Shin's happy attitude suddenly disappeared. He let go of Wufei and backed away into the protection of his friends and looked doubtfully at the Gundam pilots. "You...you did?"
Duo nodded. "I sort of walked in and he was in bright green armor. Are you...machines?" It seemed like an odd thing to ask in the middle of a schoolyard.
Sh'ten put an arm around Shin's shoulders. "We are all grateful that you saved Shin's life," He told Wufei. "But I will ask you not to put your hands on him again!" Sh'ten's mouth twisted in an unattractive snarl. "Shin is mine!"
Ryo looked around at the other kids starting to gather for the beginning of school. "Perhaps we should talk somewhere more private. We knew we would have to talk to you after yesterday." Ryo held out something to Duo. It was his forgotten notebook.
Duo took it guiltily. If they were OZ machines, then they were the strangest he had ever seen. They really acted as if they had minds of their own instead of programming.
Everyone nodded, agreeing that this should be done away from prying eyes. The back of the school, in the athletic field would be best. Quiet and undisturbed.
"So, what's going on?" Wufei asked, folding his arms across his chest. "Duo is reliable when it comes to this sort of thing. He wouldn't lie and he rarely makes such mistakes. You," he looked at the emotionless Seiji, "at least, are a machine. What about the rest of you?"
They all looked at each other uncertainly, except for Shin who had returned to gazing at Wufei and Quarte with near adoration, only Sh'ten's hold keeping him from running to them again. Shu also didn't look terribly worried. In fact, he was looking at Wufei strangely.
Ryo shook his head. "You've got us all wrong. I don't know why you keep going on about machines, but we're just people. We just came to school. We haven't hurt anyone and we don't intend to. We just want to be left alone, that's all."
"Hello." Everyone turned to see Mr. Gen standing with them.
Duo started sweating and wondering what they should say. They certainly didn't want a teacher to get involved in all this. "Well, you see...Uh..." Had to think of a lie to get the teacher away and out of this whole mess.
"Hi, Rajura." Ryo said with a slight wave.
"Morning." Rajura went to Naaza and kissed him passionately. "How's my favorite little love toy?" He gave Naaza's butt a tight squeeze, making the green haired boy jump slightly with a smile on his face.
"Not here, Rajura. There are people watching."
"You're to shy."
Quarte went quite pale and Wufei's eyes almost popped out of his head. Duo thought it was just sick that a teacher would do something like that.
Naaza, after giving a kiss that would melt an ice burg, frowned at Rajura. "What do you mean 'favorite little love toy'? How many do you have?"
"They saw Seiji's armor." Touma told Rajura before the older man could answer.
Duo suddenly understood. "You know about them?" He asked Mr. Gen. "You know that they're machines?"
Rajura raised an eyebrow. "Machines? What does this boy speak of?"
"We're not sure." Sh'ten answered. "I think they're confusing us with the machines that mortals make these days. Perhaps if we let them understand they will leave us in peace."
"I doubt it. I have been hearing much of these boys and they are not the most trust worthy of humans." Mr. Gen's good eye stared at them. "I think it would be better to escape this whole facade and go back to our old lives."
"No!" Shu cried suddenly, much to everyone surprise. "I won't leave him." He looked directly at Wufei who suddenly looked like a deer caught in headlights. Duo giggled.
Nasty looked at Ryo. "I think I've just been dumped." It was the first time she's spoken since she'd arrived with the boys. It seemed like she was used to staying in the background.
Ryo answered, "You kept him a good month and three days. That beats Touma by two days and that's a new record. Now, you can go chat up that guy at the library you told me about."
"True."
"And what do we do when they bring their Gundam ships to our home and step on it?" Touma asked Shu sharply. "That won't make Nasty very happy."
Sh'ten let an evil grin spread across his face. "Let's kill them." His eyes lingered on Wufei and Quarte. "No more problems if they're all dead."
Duo started to worry when he saw some of them considering this.
"Not him," Mr. Gen pointed at Duo. "He's my new student and I won't have him killed before his training is finished. You can kill the others if you like."
"Don't hurt Wufei!" Shu smiled at the smaller man. "I won't let anyone hurt my Little Panda!"
Wufei spluttered, forgetting that the people in front of him were probably androids. "I am not your Little Panda!" He shook a fist in the air. "INJUSTICE!"
Shu blinked with surprise. "Justice?"
"It is my life's work to serve justice." Wufei declared proudly.
Touma started laughing. "You've just nailed your own coffin, pal."
"Can we get back to the subject, please?" Seiji asked softly. "We have to decide what to do about them."
"Nasty, are you involved in all this, too?" Duo asked, trying to derail that train of thought that suggested they all die. He was also trying not to laugh at Wufei's predicament of Shu smiling at him sweetly.
Ryo answered for her. "Sort of. She takes care of us and we live at her home. She isn't one of us, though. Nasty's just real nice and we like her." Ryo was quiet a moment. "I just don't know what to do." He admitted. "We've never had this problem before." He looked at them hopefully. "I don't suppose we can trust you to just forget what you saw about Seiji?" He was talking to Duo who was the only one to actually see Seiji as a machine.
Duo shook his head. "I never lie."
"I'm not asking you to lie, just not to tell anyone."
"Sorry."
Ryo frowned, looking at the ground as he thought, before looking up with hope. "What do you think I should do about this?" He asked the Duo.
Naaza snapped, "You don't ask the enemy for help, baka!"
"But he's my friend!" Ryo protested.
Anubis growled at Naaza. "Don't yell at Ryo."
"He's asking them what we should do! Let's just kill them, hide the bodies, and get back to class."
"I'm all for killing them." Sh'ten agreed helpfully until Shin frowned at him.
"Are you jealous?"
"Me? Of coarse not!" Sh'ten sniffed arrogantly, but didn't take his arms off Shin.
"Then you don't mind if I give my new friends another hug?"
"Don't you dare!"
Ryo opened his mouth, but Seiji spoke up. "What if we can convince you that we are not these OZ machines you seem to hate so much?"
"My objective is to destroy OZ." Heero said in his usual dry monotone. "Nothing else matters. If you are from OZ, I must destroy you."
"I need an answer. If we can convince you that we are not OZ, will you leave us in peace?"
Heero shrugged. "I have no interest if you are not from OZ."
Quarte spoke. "I won't hurt you, so long as you don't pose a threat to humans. If you're going to attack this world or the colonies, then we'll have to fight you."
Seiji nodded. "That is acceptable. Just don't give away our secret." He then frowned. "What do you mean, 'colonies'? What colonies?"
"The colonies in outer space." Quarte gave a puzzled frown. "Haven't you heard of the colonies before?"
"Where've you been living for the past several decades?" Wufei asked.
"We have been in the dark nether realms of the dynasty for the past several centuries." Anubis sneered at them before Sh'ten shot him a scowl.
"Yeah, and we've been a bit busy trying to kill them." Shu added.
"Is it true, Touma?" Sh'ten asked the blue haired boy. "Are they're really people in outer space?"
The Gundam team watched as Touma got a misty look in his eyes and it seemed as if he weren't seeing them any more. His head tilted up until he was looking at the clouds and swayed slightly. "Yes." His voice was soft and far away. "Yes, very many people in the void." A smile touched his face and Duo realized with a shock that Touma was glowing. "Singing...the stars are singing." His voice had dropped to a whisper and Duo knew the blue haired boy was no longer talking to them. His mind was elsewhere.
Duo jumped slightly. Touma was not only glowing a soft blue, but he was hovering several inches off the ground until Seiji grabbed the back of his shirt and pulled him back down to earth.
"How did you do that?" Quarte asked. "If you aren't a machine, how did you do that? You were flying! I saw it, you were really flying!"
Touma looked embarrassed. "I try not to do that in public, but it's hard when I look into the void. The stars are singing to me." His gaze started to drift up again, but Seiji shook his shoulder. "I have to stay focused or I try to get to the stars. I would stay up there forever, if I could. Perhaps the truth is best."
The eight boys and Mr. Gen spread out around the Gundam pilots and Nasty, surrounding them in a circle.
Duo-
We were suddenly at their house. I don't know how we got here, but they had suddenly surrounded us and then we were at Nasutei's home.
"This is the best place for privacy." Ryo told us. "We won't be interrupted. Are we agreed?" He looked at all his friends and, I saw something passed between them. I'm not sure what, but it was as if they were talking without talking. Ryo nodded and took a step away from us. "Don't be afraid." He told us. Ryo made a fist and shouted. "Armor of Wildfire Tao Jin!" There was a flash of light and I swear I saw flame engulf Ryo for just a moment and then he was there in red and white armor and holding two slim, but dangerous looking, swords. "I am Ryo of Wildfire. I bear the armor of wildfire and I am virtue."
"You are virtue?"
"It's my greatest trait. We all have one trait that defines us." Ryo nodded at the others. One at a time they transformed in front of us into the strange armor.
Seiji of Halo-courtesy
Shin of Torrent-faith
Shu of Hardrock-justice
Touma of Strata-wisdom
Sh'ten of Cruelty-loyalty
Anubis of Darkness-obedience
Naaza of Venom-piety
Rajura of Illusion-serenity
I stared at Mr. Gen. "You're a kid!" I exclaimed.
Mr. Gen smiled and touched his now young looking face. "Yes. I'm a kid. The face you saw as Mr. Gen was, of coarse, an illusion. It was helpful and I rather enjoyed being a teacher again."
Wufei was looking a little pale as he stared at Shu. "You...you are justice?"
Shu sighed and started walking toward Wufei. "Yeah. Just imagine, Little Panda, together, you and I fighting for justice, forever."
Wufei started to back away, moving behind Heero. Shu said something in Chinese that made Wufei blush before yelling at Shu in his native language. This continued for a few minutes until Ryo grabbed Shu's arm. "Why don't you give him a few minutes to get used to your profoundly unique love, Shu? Maybe he's not used to it."
Shu looked at Wufei appraisingly. "Yes, I think you might be right." Then he smiled at Wufei again. "Though how a cute devil like you can't be used to love, I have no idea." He winked at Wufei.
Wufei, again, blushed bright red.
Sh'ten said, loudly enough for everyone to hear. "Who would have thought of Shu as having a silver tongue?"
We just stared at each other for about five minutes and they patiently let us until Quarte said, "What are you?"
"We are the Samurai Troopers." Ryo said.
Sh'ten indicated the darker warriors. "We are the Ma-Sho. You've seen us transform, but we are still human. Our hearts beat and we bleed, we are human. We bear your world no ill will. Let us live in peace."
"We wear the armor to protect the Earth and guard it from harm." Touma added.
Heero spoke. "Will you fight against OZ or with it?" He did tend to get stuck on subjects and even if he didn't know what exactly these people could do, it was always helpful to have allies.
"We don't care about your little war one way or the other. It is only one more of the countless wars that had been fought and, like all others, it will be forgotten in short time." Anubis said. "Go fight it yourself. We will interfere only if the Earth is in danger."
"We can't allow OZ to rule us!" Wufei snapped. "You don't understand what Treize will do to us..."
Anubis looked at Ryo. "Treize? Isn't that the name of the guy who nosed in at the gym yesterday?"
Everyone went silent and the Gundam pilots tensed visibly. Ryo thought. "Yeah. Treize Kushranada, I think."
"What did Treize want with you?" Heero asked. They would have to know if these people would be new enemies.
"We were at the gym in the city when he just walked over. He wanted us to work for him." Ryo answered. "He offered very good pay, too. Still, I don't want to get involved with anything like that. I'm not good at obeying orders."
"What were you doing when Treize approached you at the gym?" Heero asked Ryo.
Anubis stepped casually behind Ryo with a hand on the hilt of his sword. Anubis began to stroke the hilt of his hand slowly with a suggestive leer on his face. "We were thrusting." He drew out the last word to make it sound obscene and licked his lips.
Everyone gaped.
Rajura leaned forward. "Don't tell me you..." His gaze drifted back and forth between Ryo and Anubis. "You didn't! Did you?"
Ryo nodded happily. "Yes, we were practicing sword technique. Anubis thought my thrusts needed work, but I think I was doing just fine."
Everyone face faulted.
"Why?" Ryo asked in his innocence. "What did you think we were doing?"
No one answered him, but Naaza screamed at Anubis, "You brat! Got us all excited and then to let us down like that, I could just kill you!"
"It's your own fault," Anubis told Naaza as he strolled away several yards. "You've got a filthy mind."
I tried to get back on track. "So, you're not planning to join OZ?"
Ryo shook his head. "We've all discussed it and, frankly, it's none of our business who rules this world."
"What?" I demanded. "How can you say such a thing? It is everyone's business, OZ is murdering people!"
Touma nodded. "Yes, that is pretty awful. On the other hand, you Gundams routinely kill OZ soldiers, don't you?"
"Well, yes."
"So, what makes you so much better than them?"
"His point," Anubis added, "Is that it doesn't concern us how this world is governed, so long as it is ruled by humans. We are more concerned with guarding this world from others."
"What others?" Quarte asked. "Are you talking about aliens?"
Naaza laughed. "If only it were so simple." Trowa could have sworn that he saw fangs when Naaza laughed. "We are not worried about aliens. We watch for evil." He told them ominously. "Spirits and those that serve the spirits."
It was decided, after a while, that the Gundams had no quarrel with the strange armored warriors and everyone agreed to leave each other alone. No fights and no problems, so long as neither group started anything.
Except of coarse that Shu was still declaring his eternal love for Wufei and Wufei was hiding from Shu. Apparently, Wufei would find candy and flowers on his doorstep every morning for a week with a card addressed to Little Panda. It made him so nervous, that he moved in with Quarte for a little while. How Shu had found out where Wufei lived was a mystery.
